Flu shots are very effective for Equine Flu. We give ours Flu shots about 3X a year because they do not last a full year.

It is not 'deadly'. And it usually does not require treatment. It is a Virus, so antibiotics are useless unless a horse gets a secondary infection. An occasional horse get pneumonia but they are usually horses that were ridden or worked while they were incubating it. The temp will be pretty high the first day or two and then they go back to eating and coughing, and coughing and coughing.

Most horses get over it in a week or two. They will have a cough that persists and they get over it more quickly if you do not ride or exercise them until they have stopped coughing for a few days. If you take one out and it starts coughing, just put is back up and wait another week or so.

Equine Flu is just one of the prices you can pay if you do not vaccinate for it. But, it is not nearly as serious as Strangles or Neurological Rhino.

ib was told that a flu shot would not have prevented this, annie gets her twice or three times a yr, but everybodys freaking that this virus couldnt be stopped by the vaccine. i dunno if taths bull**** or not.

vet also told the first girl from our barn who called that it was deadly. im not sure why, like i said, she didnt even come look at the horses when she made this diagnosis. we've had one go down with a 105 fever already, but the other horses coughing havent gotten one yet and everybodys getting ready to treat.

I would ask the Vet for clarification of exactly what Virus this is. There are several strains of Rhino that are not covered by vaccinations. These are different from Equine Flu. I think you need to find out exactly what is going around.

Make sure your Vet is not talking about EVH 4 which is a Herpesvirus and not a flu strain and it is deadly.

thats the plan for this afternoon. Barn b has a different vet coming out to check and do some kind of test i guess. i went ahead and ordered everything ill need if she starts showing symptoms, i dont want to take any chances. but id really like to knowwhats going on.

also found out the barn owners ahve no intentions of a formal quarantine. i am LIVID

had another vet out last night, she checked the horses, did a nasal swab, and says "its either a flu or a cold" simple as that. a flu or a cold. no X factor involved.

YAY

She says since Annies vaccinated, she may not get it, but if she does, its as simple as catching it early and a ten day antibiotic run. i can still ride, and theres no need to quarantine the healthy horses. just keep em a stall length at least from the others.

soooo, it was either some drama queen boarders blowing up what one vet said, or the vet trying to scare everybody into buying a bunch of meds and whatnot. either way, i dont give a rats patootie, i get to resume my restarting :)

That's about what I thought. I thought someone was blowing smoke at you and trying to get you to panic and spend a lot of money. Flu is not just that big a deal.

The 'one stall away' thing is useless. Generally every horse on a property will be exposed and you will soon know which ones were vaccinated recently enough to not get it. I have gotten it when horses 1/2 mile away got it and the wind blew it in. They had no closer exposure to it and they all got it. Any horse that has bee vaccinated at any time will get it milder than horses that have never had an exposure to the disease or a vaccination for it.

We give vaccinations to anything we are riding, the stud and any mares we plan to breed. Any others just have to get over it if it comes around.

me too :) and thanks for the backup cherie, it was good to know i was making a smart choice :) Annie will most likely either only get it mildly, or not at all. shes been vaccinated and is pretty healthy, being five and pretty active. so all in all i feel much better :)

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